Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health

The Central West Hospital and Health Service Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Team provide a range of culturally sensitive education and health care services to health care providers, individuals and communities within the Central West.

The role of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Team is to:

• Promote accessibility to culturally appropriate health services.
• Advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
• Assist in health education and community engagement.
• Boost understanding and skills to encourage self – management.
• Train CWHHS staff to deliver health services in a culturally respectful and appropriate manner.
• Liaise with other providers, including government and non – government organisations, in coordinating relevant services.

Indigenous Health Programs

Indigenous Respiratory Outreach Care

The Indigenous Respiratory Outreach Care (IROC) is a Queensland Health Statewide Respiratory Clinical Network initiative hosted by The Prince Charles Hospital, Metro North Hospital and Health Service. The program is funded under the National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes.

The IROC Program aims to:

• Provide a multidisciplinary specialist respiratory outreach service for, and improve respiratory health outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (adult and paediatric) in rural, remote and urban locations in Queensland.
• Enhance local capacity for managing lung disease in identified sites in Queensland.

IROC provides a culturally safe specialist respiratory outreach service which includes:

• lung health checks
• point-of-care chronic lung disease management
• treatment
• referrals to other health providers
• education.

The IROC team is made up of respiratory physicians, respiratory nurses, respiratory scientists and Indigenous Project Officers from across the state.

Indigenous Cardiac Outreach Program

The Cardiac Outreach Program is a specialist cardiac outreach services providing care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in rural and remote communities in Queensland.

ICOP aims to raise awareness of cardiac diseases through community engagement, education, partnerships with local health providers, training and research.

ICOP provides a culturally safe specialist cardiac outreach service which includes:

• point-of-care chronic cardiac disease management
• treatment
• referrals to other health providers
• education.

How to Access These Programs

See your local health worker or doctor to make an appointment with the IROC or ICOP teams. If you can’t make it on the day please let your local health worker know and rebook for the next clinic.

Cultural Practice Program

Cultural capability, like clinical capability is an ongoing journey of continuous individual learning and organisational improvement.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Practice Program is conducted as a workshop and is Queensland Health’s foundational program.  It provides staff with increased understanding of the links between health and cultures.  It aims to develop the cultural skills of all staff, recognising that every person across Queensland health plays a vital role in improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Closing the Gap

Closing the Gap is a Government Strategy that aims to reduce disadvantage among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with respect to life expectancy, child mortality, access to early childhood education, educational achievement and employment outcomes.

The Closing the Gap commitments require reflection upon the past and a collective understanding that improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health is everyone’s business. Cultural capability, just like clinical capability, is an ongoing journey of continuous individual learning and organisation improvement; service delivery must be culturally and clinically responsive if we are to close the gap in the life expectancy.